Ready-to-teach lesson
What Is It? Getting a Meaning Out of the Page Albert Adds Up! - Grade 1 - Short lesson
TIME
OBJECTIVE
PRODUCT
9 minutes Ask about an unfamiliar word or object and use the nearby sentence to determine its meaning. Two oral word-meaning explanations supported by the printed context. Essential question:
How can the words around an unfamiliar name tell you what the thing is or does?
Materials
- The book
- Prepared excerpts printed in this lesson
- Word-meaning log Text to mark
- Secret sucker exchange - Wanda asks “What is it?” and Albert explains its purpose
- Electric tail warmer sentence - the three-word name itself signals what it warms Prepared text
Wanda stared at him. “What is it?” “It's a secret sucker,” Albert explained proudly. “It's for sucking secrets out of other mice. I made it myself.” He brought in his electric tail warmer. “That's seven things,” he said.
Lesson sequence
1 Ask what it is, then find the answer - 5 min Read the secret-sucker exchange with a partner.
Underline Wanda's question and the sentence that answers it, then explain what a secret sucker is meant to do. 2 Break a long name into its parts - 4 min Read electric tail warmer aloud. Say each word separately, then the whole name, and explain what the object warms.
Teacher key
A secret sucker is something Albert says is for sucking secrets out of other mice. An electric tail warmer is a warmer for a tail; the words in the name supply that meaning. Support & extension
- Support:
- Stay with secret sucker. Answer two questions aloud: What is it? What is it for? Point to the sentence that gives the answer. Extension: Invent another object name built like tail warmer and explain which word names the thing and which word tells what it is for.
Assessment
- Uses the answering sentence to explain secret sucker
- Identifies the question that prompts the explanation
- Breaks electric tail warmer into meaningful parts
page 1
- Explains that the nearby words, not guessing alone, provide the meaning
page 2
page 3
